The 13-year-old son of a Florida “whistleblower” who claimed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office made up Covid-19 statistics during the pandemic has been arrested after allegedly threatening a school shooting.
Rebekah Jones took to Twitter Tuesday night to announce the arrest, which she believes was personally ordered by DeSantis and carried out by the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office.
Jones said her son was taken into custody over memes he sent in a private group chat joking about school shootings – including one making fun of lazy school guards and another joking about him being been tempted to grab a school guard’s guns.
But a police report released by the sheriff’s office on Thursday showed the motivation for the arrest went beyond the memes and suggested Jones had downplayed the seriousness of the charges her son faces.
Footage from the Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office showed Rebekah Jones arresting her 13-year-old son after he was accused of threatening a school shooting
Police officers allege that Jones’ son made numerous statements specifically describing his desire to shoot and stab students at Holley Navarre Middle School, even going so far as to set a date for his planned killing spree.
The boy was charged with “writing”. [or] electronic threats” that he was planning a “mass shooting”. [or] terrorist act.’ He was released Thursday after denying he intended to stage a shooting and was placed under house arrest, according to the Miami Herald.
The arrest comes three weeks after Jones filed a whistleblower complaint against the Florida Health Department, demanding that she get her job back and recover back payments and other damages. She was fired from the Insubordination Unit in 2020 after disclosing data the state called false.
Rebekah Jones gained national attention in 2020 after she accused the Florida Department of Health of falsifying her Covid-19 statistics on orders from Gov. Ron DeSantis
One of the Snapchats Jones’ son sent, leading to his arrest for fear of a gunfight
Jones said that someone who said he was a classmate’s cousin joined her son’s group chat and later reported the memes and images her son shared to police, according to the Pensacola News Journal.
The Santa Rosa County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to that the images included a SnapChat of a man drinking a case of Hi-C with the caption: “I feel so silly I could shoot a building full of people. “
It’s unclear who the man in the picture is, although he doesn’t appear to be Jones’ son.
Another featured an animated brain with a thought bubble illustrating an intrusive thought labeled “Reach for Officer’s Gun” and was captioned “Me Every Time I See School Security.”
A third meme featured an overweight man sleeping in a chair, with the caption, “Cops in their car are waiting for the school gunman to kill himself so they can go inside.”
Jones wrote on Twitter that the memes were recorded and reported just a week after she filed her lawsuit against Florida.
“A week after we filed our lawsuit against the state, a boy claiming to be the cousin of one of my son’s classmates joined her Snapchat group,” she wrote. “They recorded their conversations and anonymously reported my son to the police for sharing a popular internet meme.”
She said her son was autistic and police would not let him take his medication when he was arrested.
According to the police report, warnings about Jones’ son had been raised before an investigation was launched against him, the Pensacola News Journal reported.
A Snapchat son of Jones sent what he was arrested for fear of a school shooting
A meme Jones’ son sent in a private group chat. Jones said it was one of the reasons her son was arrested over fears he was planning a school shooting
That report claimed Jones’ son said things like “I want to shoot the school” and “If I get a gun I’ll shoot hnms lol” verbally and via text message. HMNS probably stood for Holley Navarre Middle School.
Other messages reportedly read, “I’m getting a shirt with wrath and natural selection, so maybe, but I don’t think a lot of people know what the Columbine shooters look like.”
A note in the report read: “Okay, it’s been about 3-4 weeks since I’ve been on my new antidepressants and they’re not working, but they’re supposed to be doing it now, so I have no hope of feeling better , so why not kill the losers at school.’
The boy reportedly said he plans to do his filming before spring break, but pushed it back to March 31.
Jones framed the arrest as a retaliatory attempt to silence her after she filed her lawsuit against the state.
“It’s been three weeks since we filed our lawsuit against the state. Last night they arrested my son for non-threatening Snapchat memes. The official said it was the call of the state,” she wrote.
“My family is not safe. My son was kidnapped by government order and I had to send my husband and daughter out of the state for their safety. THIS is the reality of life in Florida by DeSantis. There is no freedom here. Only retaliatory rule of a fascist who wants to be king.’